Team Rocket Ash
by bpile009
Summary: <html><head></head>Ash's childhood hasn't been the best, especially since Gary and Professor Oak have taken every opportunity to suppress his skill as a Pokemon trainer. When Ash finds out that his father was a member of Team Rocket, he is conflicted about good and evil. Whether or not Ash joins Team Rocket, one thing's for certain: Ash will be a Pokemon master. (Ash/Sabrina)</html>
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So I've seen a couple Team Rocket Ash fics that were decent, but none were amazing. I think it's an interesting plot line, so I figured I'd try to write my own fic of that structure.**

**Featuring: Smart Ash, Non-standard starter, Powerful Ash, Team Rocket Ash. Also will share some elements and maybe some text from The Very Best by MP009 (I asked and he said it was okay, also we're 009 buddies!). Set in BW universe because I don't know a lot of the XY Pokemon, and I haven't played XY yet. Will roughly follow the anime, Pokemon Fire Red, or Pokemon Fuligin (a hack game that I encourage you to play), depending on each individual subplot. Or it could be completely made up. I don't know.**

**I have already written the second chapter. Each chapter will be about 3000 words long, and I will update once a week. If you want me to update slower but with longer chapters, review, and if enough people think I should have longer chapters, I'll start writing longer.**

**Chapter One basically comes entirely from The Very Best, I felt that was a good idea since that story started off so well.**

**Chapter One:**

"And the simulator battle between Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak has begun. We will take a look at both teams momentarily," the announcer stated.

Ash confidently twisted his cap to the back of his head and put his hands near his control panel. It was go time.

"It seems that Ash has a Terrakion, Kyurem-B, Keldeo, Blissey, Celebi, and a Starmie to round things up. It seems to me to be quite the balanced team, though I do see a few potential flaws. No matter, let's go over to see what pokemon Gary's bringing out in this matchup." said the excited announcer.

"And Gary's got a Jirachi, Magnezone, Tyranitar, Gliscor, Jellicent, and another Starmie on his team too." he said. "Bill, what do you think about Gary's team?"

"Well, to me it seems to be a relatively unbalanced team, carrying a bunch of weaknesses. I can't possibly see why Gary would carry this team. It does look like he's lucked out though; there isn't a fire type on Ash's team, and he has no hard counters to Jirachi, Magnezone, Jellicent, Gliscor, or Starmie. I mean his Celebi kinda counts, but we don't know what set he's running. Ash doesn't seem to be in good shape for this matchup." Bill said. "What about you, Mike?"

"Well, we can't count Ash out yet. His Terrakion can kinda counter Magnezone, and Kyurem's a monster on the field to anything that doesn't resist it. We'll just have to wait this one out." the original announcer said.

Ash grit his teeth. Gary's pokemon were devastating to his team. Steel type moves were his weakness, but he thought that since it wasn't a very powerful attacking type, he could ignore it. Gary's pokemon were full of powerful steel moves. Ash was just glad that Gary didn't bring out a Scizor; those were particularly devastating to his team.

The pokemon battle simulator was a tool used to develop up and coming trainers in the art of pokemon battling. Essentially, they had to develop skills and strategies necessary to pass the training license test. Each aspiring trainer would have to come up with a team, and battle with it against a stock team built by the examiners. All of the pokemon used had to be "OU or under", OU meaning overused. That meant that certain pokemon, such as Rayquaza, could not be used.

Ash had already acquired his pokemon license, considering the test to be a joke for him, but Professor Oak, Gary's grandfather, was offering a little prize to whoever won the simulator matchup. There were four starting trainers from Pallet town that year: Ash, Gary, Leaf Green, and Jared Cooper. Ash had knocked out Leaf in the preliminaries, in a fairly easy match, and Gary had defeated Jared. There were only three standard starter pokemon of the Kanto region: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle, and Professor Oak only had one of each. This meant that someone got a different pokemon. So Professor Oak had put together this little competition to see which trainer got the special Pokemon. And Ash was determined to make himself that trainer.

Unfortunately, Professor Oak hated him. Ash didn't really understand why: perhaps it was because he was the only trainer who posed a threat to Gary, or it could be something his father did. Perhaps it was both. Ash never got to meet his father; he died before Ash was born. But from the little that Ash's mother spoke of her deceased husband, Ash concluded that he must have been a good man, and a fearsome Pokemon master.

Regardless, Ash had to win this match. All of Pallet had come to witness this brilliant showdown, and he could not stand to lose to Gary.

Gary considered himself Ash's "rival". Ash did not really consider Gary in the same way. Ash considered himself to be far superior to Gary in every definition of the word. Gary was annoying, sycophantic, and arrogant at the same time. It did not matter that his grandfather had bought him a car, nor did it matter that he had many fangirls (not by his own merit, by the nature of who his father, Red Oak, was).

Ash had met Red a couple of times, and they had discussed Ash's dreams of becoming a master and his own Pokemon journey. Red was probably the only Oak who didn't hold a grudge against Ash for something that Ash didn't do, and was always available for Ash to bring any insecurities or fears about his upcoming Pokemon journey to. Professor Oak had raised and spoiled Gary, while Red was out training, and upon his return, Red realized that both his father and son had let his own fame get to their heads. It took years of dedication and hard work to accomplish what Red did, and the way Gary was treating his Pokemon journey showed that he wasn't ready to leave, not that Red would ever tell him that. He no longer had any large association to his family, or Pallet Town at all in general, and he felt that his son would learn better by failure than he would with words.

Ash turned his attention back to his screen. He was situated on a podium, with his laptop, facing toward Gary, who was on his computer as well. Both computers were linked to the central monitoring system, where the battle was being projected on the big screen, inside Pallet Town's only movie theater. Bill Mallon and Michael O'Neil, ex-pokemon trainers from Pallet, were commentating on the match.

Ash knew that he was allowed to switch the order of his pokemon, and thought he'd have the best advantage with Keldeo. Keldeo was choice-scarfed, which meant that it could move much faster than it would normally be able to, but it would be locked into one move after the turn. The thing was that his Keldeo was unique, as it contained a set of his own creation that would gel well with the rest of his team. Keldeo knew hidden power fire, which was not carried often on a Keldeo. This would be super effective against Jirachi, which was part steel- part psychic.

"And both trainers have selected their starting pokemon. Ash has gone with his Keldeo, while Gary chose his Jirachi. It seems like it's a bad matchup for Ash." the announcer said.

Ash sighed as he decided that the only thing he could do would be to sacrifice Keldeo in return for destroying Jirachi. He clicked on Hidden Power for his attack.

"And Keldeo goes first with a Hidden Power. It's super effective, which means that it's either fire or ground, and it does 54% damage on Jirachi." the announcer said. "Jirachi retaliates with a powerful Zen Headbutt, doing 84% to Keldeo."

The battle went on, and Ash lost his Keldeo to Jirachi, leaving Jirachi with very little health. Ash switched in his Starmie, but Gary just switched in his Magnezone. It seemed he had an answer to whatever Ash did.

The battle continued, and Ash lost his Starmie to a clever trick by Gary, then his Celebi took out Gary's Jellicent and his Kyurem-B took out the Magnezone. It seemed that the tide had turned, and they were now tied.

Since four pokemon had fainted total, the first in battle break was taken. Ash drank a bottle of water, and poured some over himself before clicking "Ready to play".

"And it seems like both contestants are ready, so let's start the second part of this matchup. But first, a few comments from the analysts." Mike, one of the announcers said.

"Well, here are a few highlights. At first it looked like Gary was going to slaughter Ash, but thanks to a timely paralysis, Ash's Kyurem was able to take out Gary's Magnezone. And Ash's Celebi seems to be on fire today." said Bob.

"Actually, that would be terrible, as it is a grass pokemon we're talking about." Mike said.

"Of course. Anyways, offensive Celebi sets are rather rare, especially ones that don't use Nasty Plot, one of the best set-up moves. However, this seems to work rather well." said Bob.

"Yes, it was able to take out a Jellicent, one of the sturdiest walls of all pokemon."

"And now, we will return to the match. Remember, the next break will be taken when eight pokemon of either side have fainted." said Mike.

"Let's do this," Ash said.

Since Ash's Kyurem was already out, Gary got to pick which pokemon to go with, and he chose to lead Tyranitar. Unfortunately, Kyurem was confused, and Ash thought it wouldn't be wise to risk it. He decided to send out Celebi.

The battle continued with both Celebi and Tyranitar fainting, leaving both with three pokemon a piece. He sent out his Kyurem, and Gary sent out his almost dead Jirachi. Knowing it would be easy to bring down, Ash attempted to attack Jirachi. Unfortunately, an untimely flinch lead to Kyurem fainting.

Ash then sent out his Terrakion, a powerful pokemon in every definition of the word. A Close Combat lead to Jirachi's fainting, ending the second part of the match.

The break went past very quickly, and both players quickly went back at it. Ash's Terrakion was still out, so Gary responded with his Starmie. Ash sent out his Blissey as a response, and was able to stall out to Starmie's fainting. Then, he was able to land some quick damage on Gary's last pokemon, a Gliscor, before his own Blissey fainted.

It was now or never. Ash sent out his Terrakion, and hoped - prayed to Arceus that his Terrakion would be able to destroy Gary's Gliscor in one hit. The pokemon was at 50% damage, but was still hard to defeat. He nervously clicked on the button for Stone Edge, and expected the worst.

What he saw next on the screen made Ash scream out "yes" and punch his fist in the air. He had done it! His Terrakion was able to take down Gary's Gliscor in one hit. Fuming, Gary smashed his screen, and refused to come down to shake Ash's hand. Ash had known Gary for a long time, and knew that he usually wasn't this bitter about a loss. Checking it off to Gary just being Gary, Ash went up front to claim his award: a Pokemon.

"Very well done, Ash," Professor Oak said, smiling, though the smile didn't quite reach his hard eyes. Ash could tell that Oak thought there was something wrong with him, and really did not want to give him a special Pokemon. "Although this victory was just on a simulator, and battle simulators say absolutely nothing about the potential of a Pokemon trainer, you really did a good job, Ash," Oak said.

Ash growled. Of course Oak was going to try to take this one away from him.

"Of course, there were many, many things that you could have done better. You could have let Keldeo or Starmie survive, which would have given you a powerful threat to use against Gliscor. But you won, and that's that." said Oak.

The crowd was watching, puzzled. Why was Oak being so harsh to a fifteen year old teenager? There were many adults who could not play as well as he could. Simulator battling was a popular game, and it was followed almost as heavily as real Pokemon battling was. The myriad of different strategies and combinations allowed for a different sort of experience than regular Pokemon battling.

"And now, your prize will be a unique starter Pokemon. I can guarantee you that it can't be found wild anywhere in Kanto. Without further ado, your starter: Torchic." Oak exclaimed.

"Huh?" Ash said. Of course he knew what a Torchic was; he wasn't that out of it. But for all the hype that Oak made it out to be, Torchic wasn't that special a Pokemon. It was given to a third of the trainers that started out in the Hoenn region, and was analogous to Charmander. Torchic wasn't a bad Pokemon, but Ash was expecting a rare dragon type like Dratini, or maybe a Zorua or a Riolu.

Then again, Blaziken did have the unlockable but coveted Speed Boost ability. Ash knew that it would be hard, but he hoped that he could train his Torchic enough to gain access to the ability.

Speed Boost allowed a Pokemon to gain speed progressively as the match went on. This allowed for faster motion which lead to increased evasion and faster attacks.

The crowed was similarly puzzled. Pallet town was not isolated from the rest of the world; they knew what the Hoenn starters were. Oak must have had his reasons, of course, but everyone wondered why he would simply give a Hoenn starter pokemon.

"Go on, you've earned it," Oak said, tossing a Poke-ball to Ash. "As for you three, I'll be giving you your starters in the lab right now. Show's over, everyone."

Ash was quite frustrated. He was certain that if Gary had won, he would have received a different Pokemon. Oak was required by law to provide each aspiring trainer with a starter Pokemon and a Pokedex or risk losing his professorial license, but Ash was going to pick a different professor as his starting professor. Maybe Professor Elm would be interested.

Ash kicked a rock forward as he sullenly walked back to his house, when he realized that he really had nothing to be sad about. It didn't matter that he didn't get a crazy powerful starter pokemon. Torchic was awesome in its own rights, and Ash would make do with what he had.

But first, Ash needed to find out what Pokemon he would have gotten from Oak. And to do that, he needed a bit of eavesdropping.

Ash crept near the Pokemon laboratory of Pallet town, and hid inside one of the many bushes. He was not too late, for he saw Leaf and Jared walk out of the Pokemon lab, leaving the door open. He left it open just a bit, and pressed his ear to the door. As it turned out, he needn't have bothered, because Oak was mad enough to yell.

"HOW COULD YOU LOSE?" Oak yelled at his grandson.

"I'm sorry," Gary said, clearly unapologetic. "That Rocket scum must have cheated."

"Sorry? I showed you his entire team. How is it possible that he beat you. You made me look foolish in front of all of Pallet town." Oak said.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry gramps," Gary said. "Don't worry, you said it yourself, just because he's good at that stupid computer game doesn't mean he's a good trainer."

"I was lying, you daft dimwit," Oak said. "The program was designed to test the strategy creation of potential trainers. Ash is quite gifted, just like his father. Of course anyone could appear to be gifted with stolen Pokemon. That's why I had to stick on him the unruly starter Pokemon."

"Unruly?" Gary asked.

"Oh yes," Oak said. "That Torchic I gave him does not take very well to be commanded. You know as well as I do what Ash's father has done to us. That lousy, no good, Rocket son of a bitch."

Ash was shocked. His father, someone he had held in such high esteem, someone who he knew was an extremely powerful trainer, was a Rocket! Team Rocket was one of the most powerful Pokemon organization that specialized in genetic research on Pokemon. However, their methods were inhumane; their goals were to bring out the power, and reduce the intelligence in Pokemon, and many Pokemon suffered from their torture. Additionally, they funded their operations with a black market of Pokemon, stealing many Pokemon from trainers, breeders, and Pokemon Centers. They were in general a blight on society.

And to find out, in such a way, that his father was a Team Rocket member. It definitely changed things; either Team Rocket wasn't as bad as he thought it was, or his father was a lot worse than Ash's impression of the man. Then again, it wasn't like Gary and Professor Oak were much better; this sort of bullying is exactly what sends someone directly to the criminal lifestyle. And Ash knew that the Team Rocket black market wasn't as bad as many people thought it to be. They generally took Pokemon from weak, rich trainers who considered Pokemon training a status symbol, not a way of life. It made sense that if you couldn't make your Pokemon strong, you didn't deserve to have them, and many rich young Pokemon trainers who bought rare starters, like Dratini or Scyther, had them stolen by Team Rocket.

Ash didn't even care that Gary got a powerful, but docile Dratini, even though it was quite ironic that Gary got a Rocket-esque Pokemon. He had a lot to think about.

**AN: Ash's current team: only Torchic.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I may be altering movesets a bit. You don't need to tell me (X Pokemon) can't learn (Y move). I already know, just go with it.**

**Chapter Two:**

"Okay Torchic, Ember now," Ash ordered. Torchic quickly drew in his breath and spit out powerful flames at an enemy Pidgey. Ash would've considered capturing it, but it was a Pidgey, and generally Pidgeys were very weak Pokemon, and their evolution tree wasn't really all that strong. That didn't mean there weren't exceptions to that rule; there were probably Pidgeots capable of taking out powerful Dragonites. However, it wasn't worth the time and effort to raise a Pidgey just to realize that it was average.

The wild Pidgey fainted, and Ash smirked. Torchic was rapidly growing stronger and stronger, and he seemed happy to be with Ash on his journey. At first Torchic didn't consider Ash to be his trainer; he didn't want to train under some noob! He wanted to be the best. But he quickly realized that Ash was strong and intelligent enough to be worthy of training him, and he went along quite willingly with Ash after that.

Even though Torchic was supposedly unruly, according to Oak, he was also very powerful, much more powerful than a Charmander would be at this stage. He could already knock out low-leveled Pidgey's with one Ember, something that normally took most starter Pokemon at least a month of hard training. Ash knew not to disturb the Spearow (he wasn't completely incompetent), and instead focused his attention for now on the weaker and less cohesive Pokemon in the area like Pidgey or Ratatta. He had decided to take his Pokemon journey slowly rather than rush toward Viridian city, as he felt that it would be better to spend time training his pokemon rather than immediately rush into gym battles.

Ash walked alongside Torchic toward the small river they had been walking by for the past few days. Viridian City was 18 miles from Pallet Town, a distance that was easily walkable in a single day, but Ash had spent a full week working with Torchic in taking down wild Pokemon. They were only a mile away from Viridian now, and Ash wanted Torchic to be as strong as possible before they got there. They had been walking along the river so that Torchic could practice against water Pokemon, the strongest type against Fire Pokemon. Torchic needed to build up resistances to water attacks, and the best way to do that was to fight water Pokemon. Torchic was stronger than his opponents though, and usually was capable of taking down enemy water Pokemon in a couple of Ember attacks. They hadn't passed any catch-worthy water Pokemon though, only Goldeens, Magikarps, and Horseas. Horsea could evolve into a strong dragon-type Pokemon, Kingdra, but Ash figured it would be better to focus on training Torchic for now.

Ash spotted a dark figure in the water, and figured that it would be a good idea for Torchic to try to fight the unknown water Pokemon. "Torchic, go," Ash yelled, throwing Torchic's Poke-ball.

"Tor," Torchic cried as he looked around his surroundings, waiting for nearby threats. The water Pokemon jumped out of the river, revealing itself to be Gyarados, one of the strongest water Pokemon.

Ash grimaced; he knew that Torchic wasn't strong enough to take on a fully powered Gyarados yet. It would take weeks more of training before Torchic would be at that level. Still though, he had to try, or risk certain death. Torchic knew only Tackle, Ember, Peck, and Low Kick, and considering how Gyarados was water and flying, both Ember and Low Kick would be extremely ineffective against such a monstrous creature.

"Torchic, Ember," Ash commanded. Torchic stared in fear of the Gyarados, who was easily 30 times his weight. Still though, he followed his trainer's command, with full knowledge that he could do anything he put his mind too with Ash's help, even take down a Gyarados.

The Ember did very little to the wild Gyarados, and only served to make him mad. With a roar of fury, Gyarados unleashed a Water Gun directly at Torchic. Seeing what Gyarados was about to do a second before he actually did it, Ash clearly figured out the best course of action.

A mediocre trainer would tell his Pokemon to dodge to the left, or right, leaving him vulnerable to a counter-attack, with little room for retaliation. However, Ash, considering the situation, and realizing the massive size advantage Gyarados had, realized that to do significant damage, Torchic would need to get close.

"Dodge forward Torchic," Ash yelled. Torchic followed the command, and the instant before Gyarados's attack hit the ground, Torchic had moved away from the position, leaving Gyarados completely exposed for a counter.

"Okay Torchic, now jump on Gyarados," Ash said. Torchic dodged Gyarados's further Water Gun attacks, and moved closer to the behemoth. With one quick motion, Torchic quickly made his way up the water Pokemon's serpentine body, shooting powerful Ember attacks down the large Pokemon's back. While it didn't do all that much, given Gyarados's power, it did make Torchic's foe extremely angry. With a bellow that could probably be heard for miles, Gyarados unleashed a series of Thrash attacks, nowhere in particular, as Torchic held on for dear life.

Eventually Gyarados confused himself and considered a nearby tree to be its highest priority enemy. With a crunch, Gyarados's body fell to the ground, knocked out, as Torchic made his way off of the water Pokemon.

"Score!" thought Ash, not expecting to get such a powerful Pokemon so early in his journey. A tame Gyarados could be a valuable asset in any Pokemon team, especially for a trainer as competent as Ash. It would certainly make destroying Brock, the first gym leader, a whole lot easier. And catching a fainted Pokemon was generally a cinch. He withdrew an empty Poke-ball from his backpack, and was just about to make the capture, when suddenly …

The Gyarados was sucked into a red standard Poke-ball, and after a few shakes of the ball, the Pokemon was clearly caught. Ash growled, that was clearly his capture, and looked up to see a smirking orange-haired trainer, bending down to pick up what was clearly his Pokemon.

"Well that was easy," the thief said, not noticing Ash. "Who knew that a Gyarados would just be lying there unconscious?"

"You bitch!" Ash exclaimed. "That was clearly my capture; I was the one who fainted Gyarados."

The orange-haired trainer finally realized that she wasn't the only one in the small clearing along the stream. With an air of superiority, she eyed Ash up and down.

"Let's see, judging by your used clothes and that hideous cap, I'd say you're a rookie trainer. Considering the direction you're coming from, that probably means you're a Pallet freak; one of them even demanded a battle from me, can you believe that? As if I would lose to a noob, no matter how powerful his starting Dratini was. He actually wasn't that bad of a trainer, and given a few months, he'd be very powerful. But anyways, you honestly expect me to believe that you took down a Gyarados? Give me a break, you're probably working with a Squirtle that doesn't even know water gun yet," the trainer said.

"Be that as it may, even if I didn't take down this Gyarados, I did get here first," Ash pointed out. "And that means that I have the right to try to capture Gyarados, not you."

"Be that as it may," she said in a nasally, high-pitched voice, clearly mocking Ash, "I don't have time to talk to delusional idiots. Now get out of my way before I make you."

"Is that a challenge?" Ash asked. "Because you're going down, and once I destroy you, I'm going to take my Gyarados back."

"Such big words from such a small boy. You're on noob, and you're going down. You realize who you're facing don't you? I'm the fourth sensational sister, leader of the Cerulean City gym, and the most powerful water Pokemon trainer in Kanto. The name's Misty, and you'd better learn to respect your betters before it really costs you," Misty taunted.

Ash didn't fall for the bait; he knew she was just trying to get a rise out of him. Instead, he opted to grasp his only Poke-ball, to show he was ready for the battle, just as she did the same. Standard Pokemon battling practice dictated that both trainers had to send out their Pokemon at the same time, in order to even out the playing field. Ash released his Torchic, while Misty threw out her Starmie, and promptly began laughing at Ash's Pokemon choice.

"Pfft, your starter is a wannabe bird fire-type Pokemon. I bet that's your only Pokemon too," she laughed.

She continued laughing as Ash ordered Torchic "Low Kick, now." He knew that a fighting type attack would be weak against the partially Psychic type Starmie, but it didn't matter that much. The point of Low Kick was to get in close, as Ash knew that Starmies excelled at long distance water and psychic, but struggled when an opponent was in their face.

Misty continued laughing, this time even harder. "A fighting type move, that's priceless. I knew your Pokemon was weak, but I didn't think you were an idiot as well."

Starmie was obviously a very experienced Pokemon, much more so than Torchic. However, she was also very docile, and couldn't make a move without Misty's command. So she simply sat there while Torchic rushed toward her, knocking her to the ground. This shook up Misty a small amount.

"Starmie, swift," Misty ordered. Immediately Starmie began spinning and star-shaped projectiles homed toward Torchic. Ash knew that Swift was not an attack that could be dodged, so he would have to make the best of this damage that Torchic would take.

"Torchic, get close and use Peck," Ash said. He winced as Torchic took damage from Starmie's Swift, but smiled as he did considerable damage in return. It was obvious that Torchic was getting a lot stronger. Misty frowned, she could tell that Ash was not the average starting trainer; not that she'd ever tell him that, of course.

"Starmie, Water Pulse." Misty said. Immediately a strong beam of water connected with Ash's Torchic, who wasn't ready for such an attack. He was blown back, and took significant damage from the water/psychic Pokemon.

"Come on Torchic, you can do it," Ash said. "Get back up and use Low Kick again."

Torchic dusted himself off, and dodged a second Water Pulse attack quite easily. He ran forward toward Misty's Starmie, and just as the enemy Pokemon unleashed another Water Pulse attack at him, he hardened his foot and attacked with a kick that was surprisingly fiery. Ash gasped, could his Pokemon know Blaze Kick? Both Pokemon fell back from the power of each other's abilities, and both were down for the count.

"Pathetic," Misty snarled. "Your Pokemon couldn't even take two Water Pulses from my Starmie."

Nevermind the fact that he had taken out Misty's Pokemon, Ash knew that he had lost the battle. Misty had many more Pokemon, while he had just Torchic. It was a strange feeling to lose, one that Ash was unaccustomed to. But Ash held his resolve, he knew that he would get stronger, and no matter what it took, eventually he would lose to none.

Ash ran to the Viridian Pokemon center; it didn't make sense to walk and train now that his only Pokemon was fainted. Since he was only a mile away, he simply just walked alongside the main road connecting Pallet to Viridian, where he knew that no Pokemon would disturb him. Even though Torchic had lost to Starmie, he had gained a lot from the battle, including quite possibly a new move, Blaze Kick.

Misty had heckled him a bit more, before getting on her bike and riding back to Viridian. Ash wasn't sure what the Cerulean gym leader was doing on this route; probably inflating her ego by destroying beginning trainers. Ash didn't understand why people like Misty even existed; they served no purpose to society. He wasn't exactly a rocket, but he wouldn't mind if a trainer like Misty lost all her Pokemon. She deserved it after all, and Ash shuddered at the thought of a Pokemon training under Misty.

Upon his arrival at the Pokemon center, Ash handed his Pokemon to Nurse Joy, and booked a room for the night. It was amazing that Pokemon centers were free to all Pokemon trainers; it was a part of the promotional campaign run in conjunction by the Pokemon League, and Cobalion Inc., the organization which produced Poke-balls, potions, and other necessary Pokemon supplies. They made Pokemon Centers completely free to encourage new trainers to begin Pokemon training, and both parties profited greatly from it in the long run. Still, Ash didn't mind; Pokemon centers were decent accommodations for him, and he loved having his Pokemon healed for free.

Before heading up to his room, Ash managed to overhear a talking Meowth. That wasn't extremely rare; there were quite a few Pokemon that could speak in human language, but most were Psychic type and communicated telepathically. This Meowth was speaking completely in English, with its mouth! He was speaking animatedly to a tall, attractive woman with dark purple hair, and a shorter man with light blue hair. Ash could tell that the trio was attempting to be inconspicuous, and that just stroked his curiosity even further. He had to figure out what was going on. He crept closer to the trio while remaining unseen.

"And so then I said, 'Meow Meowth owth', which basically means 'where's the rest of the Pokemon'. So then the kid's Scyther replies, 'Scy Scyther', or 'they're in the Pokemon Center'. And I asked him which ones he had, and he said a Charmander, Growlithe, and a Gible." the cat-like Pokemon grinned. "So then I let the Pokemon up, and told him to get lost. But anyways, there's a ton of rare Pokemon in the center. And I was thinking that -"

"That we could go get hamburgers!" the blue-haired man interrupted.

"No you idiot. We're robbing this Pokemon center," the purple-haired woman responded. "Honestly, why do I even put up with you?" she said, exasperatedly.

"Exactly, Jessie's right. So I've come up with a quick, easy, and simple plan that involves us stealing the Pokemon from the center. All we gotta do is get all the trainers out by spreading Koffing's Poison Gas all over the place. Of course, we're going to act like it's an accident, and then once everybody's out, we'll storm the place and demand the Poke-balls." Meowth explained. Ash found himself nodding along; that seemed like a pretty decent plan.

"No you idiot, we're not doing that. Here's what we're going to do," Jessie said, before launching into a long explanation. Ash had to completely school his emotions to keep a straight face; Jessie's plan was ridiculous. It involved breaking through the ceiling of the Pokemon center, no doubt catching the attention of every single trainer staying in the center that night, then simply demanding the Pokemon from Nurse Joy. There were a million flaws in the plan; it would never work.

"And so then I'll find a water Pokemon, and get her to use Surf, and then we'll climb the wave back up to the hot air balloon, and then we'll explode the place, and then -" Jessie ranted, only to be cut off by James.

"Enough, enough," he said. Finally, some sense, Ash thought. "I love it already," James said. Ash and Meowth both face-palmed.

"Okay, we'll implement the plan tonight, at midnight then. We should get a bunch of rare Pokemon for the boss," Jessie said.

Just as they were about to finalize their plans, Ash's name was called by the P.A., and he went forward to retrieve his Pokemon. Ash was quite conflicted about what he should do about the information he knew. On the one hand, he knew that the right thing to do would be to report the trio, but then again, would it? He knew that any Pokemon that could be defeated by the weak Meowth that he saw, probably was very weak, and had a trainer who didn't exactly know what he was doing. Plus trainers like that generally bought their Pokemon, and didn't deserve such powerful Pokemon. Moreover, the Pokemon didn't deserve such a weak trainer; they deserved someone who could bring out their greatest potential, someone like Ash.

No, Ash decided he wouldn't report Jessie, James, and Meowth. He would take the Pokemon instead, and train them to their fullest potential.

If he had heard correctly, it would be a Gible, Charmander, and Growlithe. He had no use for Charmander or Growlithe, as those two Pokemon were fire type, and he already had Torchic. But Gible would be an excellent addition to his team.

Ash resolved in that moment that he wouldn't keep another trainer's Pokemon if that Pokemon was already well-trained, because that just felt wrong. However he had no qualms about stealing a Pokemon that was weak, but had a lot of potential. He knew that trainers like Gary received free handouts, and if he wanted to compete on that level, he'd have to even the playing field himself. And honestly, he was doing a favor to the weaker Pokemon by giving them the means to become powerful.

With that in mind, Ash resolved on a plan. He'd let the three criminals try to take the Pokemon, and while they made fools of themselves, he'd work in the background and find and take Gible.

Ash went to retrieve his Torchic, and went out to Viridian city in order to train. Ash decided to let Torchic walk beside him, in order to take in the sights of Viridian city, and a ghost of a smile appeared on Ash's face as Torchic jumped up onto his shoulder and viewed the city from up there. Ash didn't smile very much, he didn't betray any emotion very often, but Torchic was an exception, and in the small time that Ash had known the small fire Pokemon, they had developed a quick bond.

Ash walked along the largest, and most crowded street in Viridian City, not expecting to run into any familiar faces. However, it was just his luck that Gary pulled up next to him in his fancy convertible, with a smirk on his face.

"Ashy-boy, what are you doing here? I was sure that you were going to get devoured by Spearows before you even got halfway to Viridian," Gary joked, his personal cheerleaders who shared his car all laughing along. Ash wanted to punch the smile off Gary's face, but restrained his emotions. It was something that Ash had gotten very good at after years of living around Gary and Professor Oak.

"Hah, look at that pathetic runt on your shoulder. My weakest Pokemon is stronger than that little munchkin. I bet that's your only Pokemon too. Well I guess I'll take it easy on you then, one on one battle with me. What do you say Ash?" Gary asked.

Ash knew that Gary would want a battle sometime soon. Gary was always antagonizing him, trying to fight him when they were in school, and trying to show him up in classes. However, he knew that Torchic could easily dumpster Gary, as Gary had probably spent more time driving his fancy car around Viridian than training his Pokemon.

"Gary, Gary, he's the best. Ashy-boy won't pass the test," the cheerleaders prattled on. Ash was frustrated of always being considered second-best to Gary.

"Alright Gary, you're on. But I want you to use your strongest Pokemon, so that you have no excuse for when you lose to me," Ash retorted.

"Hmm, I didn't want to totally destroy you, but if that's what you're asking for, then that's what you're going to get. I'll see you in the Pokemon Center in 20 minutes." Gary said.

Ash walked back to the Pokemon Center, eager to put Gary in his place. He was sure that Torchic could destroy Gary's Dratini, regardless of what Professor Oak may think. Gary was a trainer completely undeserving of his Pokemon and of his stature, and he needed to be taken down a couple of pegs.

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x==x=x=x=x=x=x

"The battle between Gary Oak, the obvious favorite, and Ash Ketchum, a newbie loser, will now begin," Misty said, refereeing the battle. She had stopped by the Viridian City Pokemon Center, and after seeing Gary challenge Ash, laughed and told Gary it was a waste of time. Gary agreed, of course, but replied that he had to put Ash in his place. And so Misty, of course, wanting to see Ash be destroyed, agreed to referee the battle.

"Go Dratini," Gary said, throwing down his strongest Pokemon. Ash sent out Torchic, who adopted a quick battle stance, while Dratini just looked uninterested.

"Dratini, Twister," Gary commanded. Dratini whipped up a quick Twister and sent it toward Ash's Torchic.

Dratini was an interesting Pokemon, and depending on how it was trained, could either excel in close hand-to-hand combat, or at range, shooting out attacks. Torchic, however, needed to get up close to do massive amounts of damage; though he was capable of sending out long range attacks, he excelled at short range fighting-type or fire-type moves. One of Torchic's strongest moves, Blaze Kick, was a perfect example of that. Though it was marked as a fire type move, Blaze Kick combined the fire and fighting types to make a move so powerful that it usually destroyed its opposition. But in order to execute Blaze Kick, Torchic had to get in close, and that meant dodging out some of Dratini's attacks.

Luckily, Torchic was one of the speediest Pokemon even without his Speed Boost ability, and was easily able to dodge Dratini's poorly aimed Twister. It seemed like, though Dratini's attacks were undoubtedly powerful, she had no formal training in hitting her attacks, and generally seemed uninterested in the state of the battle, only listening to her trainer's orders. Whereas Torchic lived for Pokemon battling, and listened to his own instincts as well as Ash's commands.

Speaking of which, Dratini had sent out another Twister straight toward Torchic. The fire Pokemon dodged to the left, slowly closing the gap between the two starters.

With a quick lunge, Torchic made his way toward Dratini, who had been caught completely unaware. "Blaze Kick," Ash ordered, and Torchic immediately responded, powering up his foot, and extending a roundhouse kick toward Dratini. The one hit was all it took to fall the dragon type Pokemon, and Ash was the victor.

Gary at first seemed shocked, but tried to play it off as him going easy on Ash. "Of course I went easy on you," he said, "I didn't want to hurt your feelings too bad."

Misty bought Gary's story, and proceeded to tell Ash everything he did wrong. Ash just smiled, collected his prize money from Gary, and left. There was a Gible waiting for him.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: For those of you telling me Ash should've beaten Misty, it's important that Ash loses, especially so early in his journey, in order to keep him grounded. Don't worry, he'll get really strong soon.**

**I hadn't read the Pokemon manga, so I wasn't aware that Sabrina, Koga, and Surge were a part of Team Rocket. I don't think that any of the gym leaders will be associated with Rocket save for Sabrina, but only externally.**

**And I agree that my characters are a bit extreme. I might try to tone that down in the future, but my Misty does seem like a total bitch.**

**Ash won't join Team Rocket for a bit; while he does believe in Pokemon stealing, even he has morals and doesn't think that competent trainers should be unjustly punished. Also right now, he sees rocket as being kind of incompetent; he'll learn of their true nature in a bit.**

**PS: If you look closely, I have hidden clues about Pokemon that will be important in this fic throughout the chapter. Ash will greatly prefer quality over quantity though, so he'll only take on another Pokemon when he feels that his existing Pokemon are strong enough for where he wants to be.**

**PPS: Don't expect updates so frequently in the future. I had a pretty light week, so I was able to write another chapter. However, in the future it might be a week or a couple weeks between chapters.**

**III:**

It was 11:58 PM, and Ash had already set up for his first Pokemon heist. He knew that to be successful, he'd have to find Gible quickly without having to open many Pokeballs. The best way to do this, of course, was to talk to Nurse Joy, and ask questions about the structure of a Pokemon Center, and how Pokemon were treated.

This accomplished two tasks. One, it told him that all of the Pokemon were sorted by their primary type (in Gible's case, that was dragon), and kept in large Poke-ball bins. Since the Dragon type was one of the rarest types in all of Pokemon, there were only a handful of Poke-balls in the Dragon-type bin, so it would be easy to quickly find Gible. The reason that he wanted to take Gible, and not a more powerful Pokemon, was that Gible was untrained, and probably had a minimal bond to his trainer. It wouldn't take much convincing to get Gible to fight with him, whereas any other powerful Dragon Pokemon would be difficult to manage.

The other thing this accomplished was that he had gained the trust of Nurse Joy, through his inquisitive nature. He acted like a doe-eyed naive new trainer who was very interested in Pokemon healing, and made every attempt to flatter the Nurse. So he would never be suspected by Nurse Joy to have pulled off the crime. The blame would probably go straight to Team Rocket.

He had his plan all set up. Jessie and James would create a large distraction, after which he would sneak into the Pokemon room. There was a machine there that given a Poke-ball, would display the species, stats, and type of the Pokemon within. He would simply run all of the dragon Poke-balls on the machine, then pocket the Gible and get out as fast as he could.

Jessie and James were a good distraction, but they wouldn't hold for very long. He knew that they were too useless to actually manage to steal the Pokemon, but he needed them to capture the attention of Nurse Joy, and anyone who was in the center at the time. That meant he needed somebody who thought the sun shined out of his own ass to distract everyone by battling the Rocket trio, and who better than Gary Oak.

This was a part of the plan that Ash hadn't really wanted to do, and certainly there were alternatives, but none would be as effective as what he had planned. Ash had carefully written a note in feminine handwriting, complimenting Gary's good looks and powerful Pokemon battling, then asking him to meet at the Pokemon Center at midnight. He slipped the note through Gary's room, where he knew Gary was staying (after all Gary wouldn't stop bragging about it). This would ensure Gary's presence in the Pokemon Center, and he knew that Gary wouldn't back down from a fight.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

It was go time. Team Rocket's machine had just broken into the ceiling of the Pokemon Center, and Ash was in position, sitting calmly in the main healing area of the Pokemon Center.

"Koffing, Smokescreen," Jessie ordered. Immediately the Poison-type Pokemon scattered dust and smoke throughout the room, making it difficult to see. The trio clearly hadn't planned for this moment, as Ash heard a series of hacking coughs. The Team Rocket group was in complete disarray, and Ash distinctly heard James scream "My eyes! It's in my eyes." Ash let out an uncharacteristic chuckle before reminding himself that he had a mission to do.

As all of the trainers in the center ran out cowardly, considering their own lives more important than their associations to their Pokemon, Ash crept over the counter of Nurse Joy's desk, and ducked under her desk as he heard Joy coming in from the back room.

"What is the meaning of this?" Joy demanded. Just then, the smoke cleared, and Team Rocket had somehow managed to pull themselves together, though Ash noticed that Jessie had scratch marks around her neck, and James had distinctly red eyes.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie started off the Team Rocket motto. Ash watched transfixed as the criminals did something so stupid that he actually questioned their sanity.

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!" At this point, Ash decided to forgo finishing the Rocket anthem, and instead sneak into the room where the Poke-balls were kept, in order to finish his mission.

With the Team Rocket motto playing in the background, Ash quickly took the ten dragon Poke-balls over to the machine, and inserted the first one. It was a weak Dratini, possibly worth taking, but it wasn't a part of Ash's mission, so he decided to just leave it.

Four Poke-balls later, and Ash still hadn't found Gible. Ash inserted the fifth Poke-ball, and found the Pokemon he was looking for, a relatively weak Gible with the potential to be an incredibly strong Garchomp. But just as he was about to pocket the Poke-ball and book it, the door was pushed open and Nurse Joy bounded into the room. Ash was mortified.

"Sha? What are you doing here?" Joy asked, surprised. Ash had given her a fake name, so that even if she did suspect him, they had no way of tracking him down. Ash cursed his misfortune, as he realized that Nurse Joy wasn't preoccupied in helping Gary fight Team Rocket. She must have thought that he was too weak to beat them, and so instead she wanted to secure the Pokemon. He could immediately see the suspicion start going through Nurse Joy's mind. Putting on his best innocent face, he launched into a tirade.

"I'm so sorry, Nurse Joy," Ash babbled. "I thought that it would be a good idea to send all the Pokemon to a different Pokemon Center for safe-keeping, seeing as ours is under attack."

Joy immediately bought it, and consoled Ash. "It's okay Sha, that's actually a great idea. Still, you were using the wrong machine silly, that machine is for checking information about Pokemon, not for sending Pokemon. For that, we use this machine.

While she showed him to operate the machine, Ash quickly swiped the Poke-ball containing Gible and put the rest of the Dragon-type Poke-balls back into the bin. Together, he and Joy sent a third of the Pokemon in the center all the way to Pewter Town, before Gary came bursting in and exclaimed, "I did it! I destroyed Team Rocket,"

Ash snorted. Gary managed to beat one of the weakest Team Rocket squads, not the actual Team Rocket. They honestly looked to be terrible, and Ash wasn't surprised that Gary could beat them.

"Ashy-boy? What are you doing here? Are you trying to rob the Pokemon Center with Team Rocket?" Gary questioned.

"Ash? I thought your name was Sha," Joy said suspiciously.

Ash was conflicted. On one hand, he could just leave, as he already had what he wanted. But he didn't want to draw unnecessary suspicion to himself, so he thought it would be best to nip this in the bud.

"My name is Ash, but I sometimes go by Sha, especially while battling. As for what I'm doing here, while you were gallivanting around with Team Rocket, likely destroying government property, I was making sure the Pokemon were safe." Ash retorted.

"Hmmph, whatever," Gary said, unapologetically. "So when am I going to get my medal for saving the city's Pokemon," Gary asked, completely serious.

As Officer Jenny, and her platoon of Viridian Police Members rushed into the building, Ash found this moment to be perfect for escape. He was able to quickly duck out of the Pokemon hospital building, and made it back to his own room in the Pokemon Center. It was a long but successful day, but now it was time to sleep. He could deal with Gible later.

01100001 01100010 ONE WEEK LATER 01110010 01100001

Ash hadn't bothered to catch any new Pokemon or make the trip to Pewter City. Instead, he figured the best option would be to train.

Gible was very enthusiastic to be working with Ash, as he didn't consider his previous trainer to be very helpful. His training had progressed to the point where he could take on most of Ash's challengers, so Ash didn't have to break out Torchic unless it was absolutely necessary. He battled many of the trainers who passed through Route Two. Since all of the trainers from Pallet Town had already passed this area, most of the trainers Ash faced were more experienced, and from different areas of Kanto. He learned that only professor Oak gave out the traditional Kanto starters; in other areas of Kanto, those in charge of beginning trainers' journeys could give any variety of Pokemon, including Growlithe, Vulpix, Bellsprout, Rattata, Oddish, Poliwag, just to name a few. Even though Ash was newer to his Pokemon journey than others, his Pokemon were a lot more powerful than the average trainer, and Gible could usually take down 3-4 enemy Pokemon before fainting himself.

Speaking of Professor Oak, Ash had grown fed up with the man, to the point where he failed to see the point of even dealing with him anymore. That man wouldn't see Ash clearly, and held some sort of grudge toward him. Ash had tried to end their distant communication gracefully, by politely informing him that he would be choosing Professor Elm as his mentor and guide through Kanto, only to be informed that he would never amount to anything. At that point, Ash just hung up; he had already talked to Professor Elm, who after seeing Ash's prowess and the strength of Torchic, was more than eager to take Ash on.

Torchic and Gible practiced their moves on one another, with Torchic coming out on top nine times out of ten. Torchic was a lot stronger than Gible even though Gible had a type advantage, and Torchic was looking to be Ash's most powerful Pokemon. Ash could sense that he was close to an evolution.

Satisfied that his team of Pokemon would easily be able to take down the rock-type gym leader in Pewter, Brock, Ash set out through Viridian Forest, which was on his way to Pewter Town.

On the way, Ash kept Gible and Torchic out of their Poke-balls. The three of them ran all the way, and as both Pokemon were faster than Ash, they were able to run further than Ash, then come back, essentially going double the distance than Ash. The journey from Viridian to Pewter generally took about three days, but Ash wanted to only spend two days on the way. Even though he wasn't a trainer, he made sure to keep his body in check, and could run much faster and much further than most children his age. All three managed to build sufficient endurance during their run, but after a while, they began to tire out, so Ash decided to take a break and spend some time to eat in the confusing forest.

Just as Ash was about to put down his heavy backpack, Torchic heard the branches rustle behind Ash, and immediately got ready to engage.

Suddenly Ash heard a loud sickening crack, and turned around to see a weedy looking kid on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain, brandishing a samurai sword that he obviously had no idea how to use. Looking over him was Ash's ever-loyal Torchic, who just cluckled (clucked and chuckled), perhaps he was a little bird-like. The strange boy had obviously attempted to attack Ash; it was a good thing that Torchic was there, even if the boy probably wouldn't do anything.

The boy quickly got up and dusted himself off. "Are you the Pokemon trainer from Pallet?" he asked.

Ash was incredibly confused as to what this clown wanted; he honestly looked like he had delusions of grandeur. It would be fun taking him down a peg.

"What do you want, I'm very busy," Ash said.

"I am here to challenge you to," the samurai dramatically lead up, swinging his sword back and moving closer to Ash. "a Pokemon battle," the samurai yelled while bringing his sword down and hovering it just above Ash's head, or where Ash's head would've been if Ash hadn't walked past the kid and dodged his attack.

"Why would I battle a loser like you?" Ash derided.

"Loser? We'll see who's the loser, your Torchic seems like he's no match for my Pinsir," the samurai yelled.

"Fine," Ash said smugly. "Torchic, you know what to do."

Ash could've lead Torchic through the battle, but that wouldn't be humiliating enough. He needed to teach this kid a lesson. So while Torchic took his battle stance, Ash started unpacking his bag, and pitching a tent for the night.

"You're going down. Pinsir, tackle," the Samurai commanded.

Torchic simply looked at the intimidating bug-type Pokemon with pure boredom, and considering that Pinsir was coming in close range, where he was strongest, he felt no need to take any action. Ash's Pokemon were both trained well to handle situations by themselves so that Ash didn't have to micromanage. It helped whenever Ash participated in double-battles, as Ash could focus on larger strategical play rather than what each Pokemon was doing. Torchic knew well his strengths and weaknesses, not as well as Ash did, but well enough to take down this Pinsir.

As Pinsir approached Torchic, Torchic got off a free Ember attack, which did decent damage to Pinsir, but the bug Pokemon still managed to charge through. Torchic didn't let him contact though; his speed was much too high. Instead, he simply dodged to the left as the Pokemon rushed past him and somehow managed to faint itself.

"Return Pinsir," the samurai said, disappointed. "Go Metapod," he ordered.

Meanwhile Ash had just finished piching his tent, and he and Gible were watching Torchic demolish the foe Metapod.

"Metapod, harden," the samurai said.

Torchic didn't have the knowledge that Ash had, so he didn't know that Metapod was a highly physically defensive Pokemon who couldn't take many powerful special attacks. But it wasn't like it mattered anyways; the samurai's Metapod was so weak that one simple Blaze Kick did the trick, and Metapod was unable to fight.

"You must have cheated," the samurai indignantly said. "I clearly had the edge with Metapod vs Torchic. That's something that a new trainer like you wouldn't understand."

"Will this kid ever shut up," Ash spoke aloud, drawing the ire further from the samurai. Just as the annoyance was about to launch into a tirade, a swarm of beedrill flew over them, before noticing the Metapod as easy prey. One of them took the Metapod on its back and they were about to make their escape.

"Nooo, my Metapod," the samurai whined. Ash knew that the fool didn't deserve his Pokemon back, but he felt kinda bad. No one deserved their Pokemon to be eaten. Plus fighting a swarm of Beedrill would be good experience for both of his Pokemon.

"Okay Torchic, run towards the Beedrill and use Ember and Blaze Kick. Gible use Dragon Rage," Ash commanded.

Immediately the two Pokemon did as commanded, fainting the few Beedrill on the ground, releasing Metapod, and making the rest of the Beedrill very angry. Ash wasn't worried though, that was all a part of the plan.

As the Beedrill swarm neared Torchic and Gible, Ash sprung into action.

"Torchic, fire Embers at anyone you can hit. Gible, start a sandstorm."

Torchic was accustomed to fighting in a sandstorm, having practiced with Gible multiple times, and his accuracy was fine even in the harsh environment. He quickly began picking off the enemy Beedrill, who were all greatly impacted by the sandstorm, being flying types. Once Gible had finished powering his Sandstorm, he joined Torchic, firing Dragon Ranges from a distance at the group of Beedrill who seemed to be dropping by the second.

Eventually, the flock of one hundred or so Beedrills all fainted, giving both Gible and Torchic a massive experience boost. While Pokemon training didn't work exactly as it did in the Pokemon simulators, Pokemon did still become stronger when taking down opponents, and Ash's Pokemon had become significantly stronger through the altercation. So much so that, …

Torchic was engulfed in a white light, his shape concealed for Ash. Ash resisted shouting in glee, Torchic was finally evolving.

As the white light faded, Ash could see a taller, more powerful Pokemon in the place of Torchic. Compared to the small size and weight of Torchic, Combusken looked massive; though he was still shorter than Ash.

"Congrats buddy," Ash said, with a huge smile. "I knew you could do it. But I guess that means no more sitting on my shoulder, huh."

Immediately Combusken refuted that argument by jumping in one small motion onto Ash's shoulder, his powerful talons digging into Ash's jacket. He wasn't that heavy, but he was heavy enough to make it uncomfortable for Ash. But in the mood he was in, Ash didn't really care; he just laughed and told Combusken to get off.

It was clear that Ash's Pokemon were having a profound effect on his disposition, and Ash on his Pokemon as well. Combusken and Gible weren't just tools Ash was using to accomplish his goal of being a Pokemon master; rather, they were friends, and the trio shared a tight bond.

Ash ignored the prattling of the delusional samurai, who went on about how Ash's Pokemon were a lot weaker than his own, and how he didn't get the chance to break out his strongest Pokemon, a Caterpie. He went back into his tent, with Gible and Combusken, and the trio enjoyed warm food and good company in a rare night without training.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-17.452690, 78.443433-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Do you know what happened in Viridian," the only talking Meowth in probable existence said.

"Do I know what happened? Of course I know what happened," Jessie retorted angrily. "Our mission failed, we have no Pokemon for the boss, and it's all James's fault!"

"My fault!" James said, affronted. "You're the one who made that ridiculous plan. Maybe if we had just stuck to my plan, we could've gotten something positive out of this."

"What do you mean? My plan was perfect. It was YOUR Koffing who smoke-screened us too, which was why my plan didn't work," Jessie retorted.

"Yeah, because I'm sure that Koffing was the reason our plan didn't work. Not the fact that we got our butts kicked by some noob." James spit back.

"And why exactly is that? Which one of our Pokemon underperformed the most? I mean Koffing did faint, and Ekans did as well, but at least together they took out Dratini. It was Meowth who was unable to destroy that brat's Pidgeotto." Jessie pointed out.

"Yeah! Meowth is to blame," James said.

"Me? You two are idiots. Anyways, that's not what I was referring to. I overheard the boy that we had cornered earlier whining about how his Gible is missing. So I think our mission got sabotaged by somebody who wanted to use us as a distraction, in order to steal the powerful dragon Pokemon," Meowth deduced. "And think about it, there's no way that the brat who stopped us would've known that we were up to something, unless of course, he was tipped off."

"No, that's impossible," James said. "We conducted our planning in utmost privacy. There's no way someone could find out what we were discussing."

"You idiot," Jessie caught on. "We clearly planned out our attacks in the Viridian Pokemon Center. It's obvious that somebody actually managed to overhear our conversation, and set it up so that we failed. I think that we should track down that person and teach him a lesson."

"Finally some sense," Meowth said. "But maybe it's not the best idea to teach him a lesson. Well a lesson yes, but not the lesson you have in mind, Jessie."

"Wait we're going to be teaching him math? I'm terrible at math," James said, confused.

"No, I think I know what Meowth is saying. We have to convince him to join Team Rocket; if he could plan out such a masterful attack, he's probably a good tactician, and he'd be a good asset to our cause," Jessie said, having thought it over.

"Okay, but how are we going to track him down?" James asked.

"Let's try to use our brains. Who would want a Gible? The Pokemon isn't very cute, not cuter than me at least, so it's probably not a collector or a participator of Pokemon contests; most wouldn't know what a Gible is, let alone the power of a Garchomp. The Pokemon is pretty rare, so it could be a poacher, but we control the underground market, so we'd know if somebody was looking to sell it. That limits it to an aspiring trainer who wanted a leg up on his competitors. But the Gible was pretty weak, so it was probably a beginner trainer; no experienced trainer is going to take such a weak Pokemon, regardless of potential," Meowth thought aloud.

"And considering that it was a beginner trainer who took Gible, he's probably on his Pokemon journey. It's been a week since the Pokemon Center incident. We were in Viridian City, so that limits his possible immediate destinations to Pallet Town, Pewter City." Jessie added.

"Now considering that he's a beginner, he's probably from either Pallet Town or Pewter City, maybe Cinnabar. There are no gyms near Pallet, and Cinnabar's gym has been abandoned, since the city is a tourist trap. That probably means he isn't heading south, which means that he's going up to Pewter City." Meowth deduced.

"But it's been a full week, he'd be long past Pewter by now," James said, surprising the other two who thought their third member was only for comic relief.

"You would be right, except for the fact that he's facing Brock. New trainers usually take a while to discover a strategy to take down his Onix," Jessie pointed out. "It's very probable that he's still there."

"Okay then, Pewter City here we come!" Meowth yelled.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:**

**Sorry for not posting in a while. I've been pretty busy, and I probably will be in the future too, so next chapter should be in around 2 weeks.**

**In the anime, Jessie James and Meowth is generally there for comic relief. I want to keep that aspect of them, but at the same time, keep them somewhat competent, since Ash is going to be joining them after all. They'll have moments of brilliance, and Meowth is a clever but weak Pokemon; at the same time, James won't really do much and Jessie will come up with stupid plans, just like the anime.**

**IV**

"Gible, Dragon Claw," Ash ordered. Gible rushed forward to attack the enemy Nidoking. However, Ash didn't calculate his enemy's foot movement, and as such couldn't warn Gible to dodge in time. Gible was down for the count, which meant that Ash had lost!

In front of Ash was a tall dark-skinned man wearing tight, form-fitting clothes, entirely black. Ash figured that he was probably a goth, but it didn't matter too much to him. All he was trying to do was train, and get better for when he had to face Brock.

It was Ash's third day in Pewter, and he had yet to challenge Brock for the Boulder badge. Despite the fact that Brock was one of the weakest core 8 gym leaders (that title either went to Brock, a member of the Sensational Sisters, or Erika of Celadon City), Ash was no fool; he knew that Brock was a strong trainer. However, despite the fact that Ash had only been training for a few weeks, he already felt like his Pokemon and strategy outperformed most junior gym leaders. Still, it would do Ash well to stay far above the power curve of where he should be, and his Pokemon were much more powerful than those of all other beginning trainers, for the most part.

Ash had spent the last few days training in a makeshift field outside the Pokemon center. At times other trainers joined him for quick battles, most with only a couple of weak Pokemon, but a few with full teams of powerful Pokemon. Previously, Ash had managed to take out all of his opponents, making this his first defeat since his battle with Misty. Ash wasn't a small child though, he knew how to take defeats gracefully, and approached his opponent with a friendly handshake, as well as the necessary payment required after a loss. As he was walking over, Ash couldn't help but admire the ruthlessness with which the man systematically tore apart his Pokemon team. Ash resolved that sometime in the near future, he wanted to be like that man.

"Hey, you were pretty good," the other man said, as Ash finally approached him. "How far along are you in your journey. Must be a couple months right?"

"No, actually, it's only been three weeks," Ash replied, with nothing but respect for the man in front of him. Had it been any of the other trainers Ash had faced, Ash wouldn't have bothered making conversation, but since the man in front of him was so powerful, Ash felt obligated to speak with him.

"No way! I was nowhere near that good three weeks in. Plus your pokemon are really rare around these parts; both Combusken and Gible aren't indigenous to Kanto. So what, are your parents really rich or something?" the man excitedly asked.

"No, I started with a Torchic, and I traded a Pidgeotto for a Gible. The fool thought his dragon Pokemon was too weak, he didn't realize how powerful they could be with a competent trainer," Ash explained. That was his cover when people asked him about his Gible, as he knew he would be questioned about it.

"Well that's good and all, but you're nowhere near my level. In order to truly become a Pokemon master, you need to devote everything within reach toward that goal. Power, that should be all that matters to you, that's what it means to be a Pokemon master. You need to stop being friends with your Pokemon, and instead be their trainer and commander. They shouldn't think freely by themselves; rather you need to control exactly everything they do in and out of battle. I've noticed that you give your Pokemon certain liberties of decision making. End that immediately. You need to be ruthless in battle in order to accomplish your goals. And you need to beef up your Pokemon in whatever way possible. I can help you there," the man said in one continuous stream.

Ash hung on to every word, as it was obvious that the man knew what he was talking about, and his Pokemon were so powerful. He couldn't even take down a single one. But was what he was saying actually true? Befriending his Pokemon was something Ash hadn't expected to happen, and yet, he honestly couldn't say that it was a bad thing. Ash found his Pokemon to each have interesting and unique personalities, was he to disregard and suppress them? His Pokemon were capable of making their own battle decisions, allowing Ash the ability to not micro-manage everything his Pokemon did, was that a bad thing?

No! Of course not. The man in front of him was powerful, yes, but he would never know the meaning of true power. There were trainers, like Lance, Steven, and Cynthia, whose power stemmed from the tight bond they had with their Pokemon. And that was true power.

Although he was correct in some aspects. His Pokemon did need to get more powerful, exponentially more powerful if he were to take down some of the Elite gym leaders, such as Sabrina and Koga.

"Respectfully sir, I must disagree," Ash said. "Pokemon trainers who are truly powerful rely on tight bonds with their Pokemon, and although you are correct that my Pokemon do need to get stronger, I need to train my Pokemon to accomplish this."

"Hmm. That is an interesting argument, one I've heard before multiple times. I'm not going to waste time arguing with you about his, but I sense great potential in you. If you change my mind," here he flicked a small business card toward Ash, "contact me here."

The man studied Ash's reaction closely, and from his battle with Ash and their further conversation, he could tell that the boy had something so common in all members of Team Rocket: the search for revenge, for vengeance against some wrong. He could also tell that Ash was an incredibly potent trainer with a thirst to prove himself, and would go very far in Team Rocket, maybe even end up running the organization after Giovanni retired. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice people leaving the field around him in shock or fright.

"GO! GO! GO!" A group of three almost identical officers rushed into the field with three small, pitiful looking Growlithes in tow. It was truly a pathetic sight, and Ash found his interest piqued as how the man, who was clearly a Rocket based on the way he dressed and the speech he had just given, would carry himself against multiple opponents. Normally at this point, Ash would have simply left the scene of the crime, as he generally didn't want to be associated with the actions of any Rockets. However, this was a special case, as Ash knew that the upcoming battle would be extremely interesting.

"Surrender your Poke-balls, and come with us," the Jenny's spoke in unison. It actually would be quite creepy and intimidating if the Pokemon behind them weren't so weak. The Rocket he battled earlier just laughed before sending out all of his Pokemon at once. Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Houndoom, Wheezing, Crobat, Raticate, Ninetails, Arbok, and Persian. He clearly didn't follow the rules of battling with a maximum number of six Pokemon at a single time.

"Take out the trash," the man said, with a dramatic flourish, gesturing his Pokemon to take the field.

In response, the three Jenny's sent out the total combination of all their Pokemon: 3 Growlithes, 4 Pidgeotto's, 3 Paras's, and a Gastly. All in all, if Ash had to bet on the results of the battle, it was obvious which side he'd take. Ash felt that even he stood a strong chance against the collective group of 11 Pokemon with just Combusken and Gible.

As the Jenny's Pokemon charged the Rocket, his group of Pokemon seemed ill-at-ease with the crowded battlefield, and Ash got the feeling that the man's Pokemon were trained to handle 1v1 situations where he could guide his Pokemon's every step. With the Rocket's attention diverted into many simultaneous battles, his Pokemon were taking quite a few hits from the Jenny's. Ash knew that his Pokemon would never be so weak, and so unprepared. Though they battled better with Ash's instruction, they could certainly think for themselves and take action if necessary without Ash's intervention.

Still though, he seemed to be doing well enough against the weak Officer Jenny's.

"Backup! We need backup!" One of the Jenny's exclaimed to her walkie talkie. Within the next minute, the Jenny's Pokemon were systematically take apart, one at a time. The Rocket was about to take down the final Jenny when …

GYAOO! A roar of an unmistakably powerful Pokemon was heard in the distance. Ash squinted toward the horizon and could barely make out the figure of the approaching Pokemon. As it grew closer, it's figure grew more and more apparent, and Ash could make out details of its flight. The way its dark green wings glided through the twilight sky, in clear contrast to its light yellow body, the Pokemon had to be a Dragonite.

"HALT," the Pokemon's trainer yelled, still atop the rapidly approaching Dragonite. "Archer of Team Rocket, you are under arrest. Remain still, and I will not have to get involved."

At this point, Ash clearly recognized who the man was. It was Lance, leader of the Kanto Elite Four, and arguably the most powerful trainer in the world, save perhaps Cynthia. And he cut an incredibly imposing figure; Archer must have been quite an important Team Rocket member in order to bring out Lance.

It was a fairly open secret that the Pokemon League controlled the government of Kanto, and this included the police. All four members of the Elite Four had gone through missions in which they took down high-profile criminals, most of which were members of Team Rocket. However, no one was scarier than Lance.

The Rocket Executive threw out a Pokemon and commanded "Teleport", only to realize that it didn't work.

"That won't work here, there's no way your pathetic excuse for a Psychic Pokemon can teleport through Agatha's Alakazam's Barrier. Face it Archer, you're surrounded," Lance exclaimed.

Throughout the battle with the Jenny's, and throughout his conversation with Lance, the Rocket, Archer, wore the same expression on his face. One of subtle amusement, as if the entire situation was a simple, low-stakes game, which he was playing.

"Please," Archer spoke languidly. "While it may be true that my own Abra is now match for your Alakazam, there are things that Team Rocket can do that will literally blow your mind. Prepare for a true display of power, the epitome of the psychic type." As Archer spoke, his voice got more and more intense, and Ash could see the power and feel the intimidation behind his voice. This man certainly seemed to command the presence of a high ranking member of Team Rocket. "TELEPORT" he shouted as he was engulfed in an incredibly bright pink light, one too powerful to have come from a simple Abra.

"Flamethrower, Dragonite" Lance commanded, only to recoil in shock as his Dragonite's fire beam hit empty air. The Rocket had vanished without a trace!

Realizing that there was nothing he could do about the situation, the dragon-type Pokemon trainer schooled his expressions and returned to the confident, imposing figure that had managed to scare off one of the most powerful members of Team Rocket.

"It's a good thing I got here when I did," he addressed the Pewter police force brusquely. "Because your group seemed utterly incompetent, and clearly unable to handle such a delicate situation. I don't understand why they even bother giving you Pokemon, when it's obvious that they're poorly trained, and could easily be bested by any trainer working hard for two months at most."

As the three Jenny's hung their heads down in shame, Lance continued "I was tipped off by my contact in Team Rocket that they are planning something in Pewter. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I'll be staying in the area just in case. Arceus knows you three need all the help you can get."

Ash snaked away quietly; it wouldn't do him good to be caught at the scene of an incident like this. Besides, he had a battle with Brock coming up soon, and he needed to get ready for it.

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"My word! Was that League Champion Lance taking on Director Archer, our boss? I wonder what he's doing in Pewter."

The three Rocket members were currently squabbling over two pairs of binoculars as they floated above the action, on a Meowth-shaped hot air balloon. Jessie had managed to secure her own by licking her pair, forcing the other two to fight over one single pair.

"It's mine!" James exclaimed.

"No. I've got it," Meowth said.

"Yes!" both shouted in apparent victory as each had managed to secure one side of the single pair of binoculars. Their victory was quickly dashed when they realized that since all of the holes were covered, they couldn't see anything through the binoculars. Well, at least for Meowth, who quickly realized what happened.

James on the other hand … "Hey, we're so far up that when I zoom in on the ground, all I see is darkness."

"Would you two quit it!" Jessie said. "Now, let's focus on our mission."

"You got it, boss," James interjected.

"Shut up James," Meowth and Jessie said together.

"Anyways, that kid, the one with the Gible. He's probably our guy, and if you see what I see, clearly Archer either already recruited him, or failed at it. Which means that, either way, we have to try to recruit the little twerp." Jessie explained.

"But do we though?" James asked. "I mean he looked kinda small, and I don't think he'd be that strong. What if he's not Team Rocket material."

"You wanna know what I think," Meowth said. "I think that if you're Team Rocket material, then anybody or anything has to be Team Rocket material. That kid, a Mareep, a Magikarp, …"

"Hey!" James interrupted, ending Meowth's obviously lengthy list of Pokemon more competent than James. "Are you calling me a Magikarp?"

"Anyways, I think the twerp would make an excellent Rocket member, if he's not already one. We know he hasn't faced Brock yet, so let's stay at the Pewter Gym for the next few days. That'll give us the chance to talk to him in person, after his match." Meowth concluded.

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"What do you think? Are you as worried about what's going to happen as I am?"

Few saw this side of Lance Wataru. Most just saw the champion of the Kanto League, the intimidating Pokemon master. But few realized just how powerful the bonds between Lance and his Pokemon were. Only in the presence of his Pokemon could Lance let his guard slip, and only in the company of his longtime friend, his first Dragonite, could Lance reclaim the child-like wonder, the innocence, and the faith he had in the workings of the universe that had once been integral parts of his personality. Lance truly wasn't Lance unless he was alone with Dragonite, and that was the only time when he let his powerful facade slip, revealing a man who simply didn't have all the answers, just like everybody else.

"Nite Nite-drag," Dragonite lightly roared, for Dragonites could only speak in roars regardless of the message they wanted to convey.

"Yes, you're probably right. It's not my place to worry about such things; in the event that Pewter City is attacked, I will do my best to defend it." Lance sagely spoke. "But what do you think about the boy."

"Drag, Dragonite?" Dragonite expressed its confusion, though Lance could immediately see through it.

"Come on, Drag, don't play dumb with me. We both know that Archer's Team Rocket recruits have all gone on to be at least admins, and some even executives. It's clear that Archer was trying to recruit the boy, so he must at least be powerful. The question is, is the boy mature enough to realize what Team Rocket truly is."

With a final glance at Dragonite, who looked deep in thought, Lance brought himself up from his sitting position on the floor, and walked out of the room.

"Well anyways, one thing's for sure. That kid is really good at remaining unseen and blending into his environment. If he ever joins the league, I think we'd have a pretty good ally," Lance concluded.

"Drag O Nite"

"Come Drag. We have a lot to prepare for."

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"The battle between Pewter City's gym leader, Brock the Rock, and Pallet Town's own Ash Ketchum, will now commence."

Ash was surprised as the commentator's voice washed over the small stadium. He was even more surprised when he looked to the stands and saw at least a hundred people eagerly watching the battle.

Usually gym matches were private affairs, with battle strategies held in confidence between the challenger and gym leader. In fact, most gym leaders didn't even battle in their large, public stadiums, but instead reserved that space for show matches between trainers of the gym, or demonstrations of the power of their chosen type of Pokemon.

So the fact that Brock had chosen to battle him in the large, spectator stadium with a commentator was surprising to Ash. But there was nothing Ash could do about it, short of withdrawing his challenge. The stadium seemed to be packed with Brock's supporters, some of whom bore a striking resemblance to the dark-skinned teenage boy. They must have been relatives, either siblings or cousins.

"Kick his ass Brock," one voice shouted out from the stands.

"Yeah, beat the noob," another voice said.

It was inevitable, when things were going excellently for Ash, one person took it to be his responsibility to mess them up. Gary Oak.

It was obvious that Gary had informed Brock that Ash was a member of Team Rocket, why Gary chose to slander Ash every step of the way, Ash had no idea. Ash was not a member of Team Rocket, but it was starting to be more appealing, if only to shut Gary up.

Judging by Brock's appearance, and the number of people in the stands, Ash knew that Brock believed Gary's false accusations. Brock must have had some interactions with Team Rocket before and known first hand their incompetence; after all Ash had seen how stupid Team Rocket's members could get. So Brock probably assumed Ash was a free win, and was trying to use this opportunity to publically humiliate him.

"Ash Ketchum. Normally, when a trainer is as unskilled as you, I go easy on them. After all, many trainers come here for their first badge. However, you are a special case. You see, I know what most people don't about you, and I'm here to prevent you from moving on. Your evil quest ends here," Brock said. "So without further ado, go Onix."

Ash didn't bother wasting time with the commentary, focusing instead on his own strategy. He knew that Brock had two Geodudes and an Onix, and since he had specifically requested a 2 on 2, he knew that the next Pokemon had to be a Geodude. Which meant that if he could take down Onix, he would have an easy time against Geodude. So Ash wordlessly threw out his strongest Pokemon, Combusken.

"Combusken, Swords Dance," Ash ordered. An aura surrounded Combusken as fiery red swords rotated around him, faster and faster, closer and closer, until he finally absorbed the energy. Brock took this time to make some sort of useless speech, probably expecting a free win.

Ash knew that one of Onix's biggest strengths, his huge bulk, was also his biggest weakness. It made him slow, and predictable, unlike Gyarados, a large but fast Pokemon. But his bulk was also a weakness to one of Combusken's most powerful fighting-type moves, Low Kick, which did greater damage the heavier the target was.

"And you see, you, Ash Ketchum, will never amount to anything. Onix, Bind," Brock said, as he finished his soliloquy. Onix slowly and lethargically made his way toward Ash, who just waited. At the perfect time, he commanded, "Combusken, Low Kick."

It was a rather comical sight, the large Onix unbalancing itself from the power of Combusken's kick, and falling on the ground in one hit. With a further Low Kick from Combusken while the snake-like rock Pokemon was down, and Ash had secured the first win for himself.

"No! There's no way you took out my Onix with your Pokemon! There's no way that Combusken is yours, you must have stolen it!" Brock spat out.

"I would suggest not making such claims in a large public setting, or I could sue you for slander. It is common knowledge in Pallet Town that I was gifted Torchic for winning the Pokemon simulator tournament. Do you really think that I would steal a Combusken when I had Torchic readily available?" Ash said, the cold inflection in his voice surprising even himself. It wasn't possible to sue Brock over information that trivial, but he didn't need to know that. Perhaps if Ash made a large enough threat, the other boy would simply shut up.

Brock, clearly enraged and not thinking straight, yelled out, "Go! Geodudes attack," as he threw out two more Poke-balls. Even though a double battle was against the preconceived rules, and Ash could have stopped the battle right there and taken his badge, he decided to take the older boy down a peg.

"Well I wasn't planning on a double battle, but if you insist," Ash lead, as he threw out his other Pokeball, sending Gible on the field.

"Gible, Combusken, take the battle to them. Both of you use Dragon Claw and Blaze Kick on the left Geodude. We'll take out the right one next." Ash said.

In perfect harmony, the two Pokemon rushed together, ignoring the weak Rock Blast sent by one of the Geodudes, and coordinated an attack on the left one. Combusken rushed behind the Geodude, in order to kick the small but heavy rock Pokemon closer to Gible, who used his own Dragon Claw to take him out for the count. They next focused their efforts on the other rock Pokemon, who was quaking in fear, literally making small Earthquakes and shaking the stadium. After a moment, Brock was completely out, having been destroyed and humiliated by a new trainer many years younger than him.

"And the winner is the challenger, Ash Ketchum," the announcer said. "Brock must now forfeit two thousand dollars as well as the boulder badge to Ketchum."

"No! I refuse to give up to that Rocket scum," Brock wildly proclaimed, a manic glint in his eyes. Clamoring broke out through the stands, some agreeing with Brock, but most siding with the challenger who clearly deserved his badge. One voice clearly broke through though, as a man in the crowd took off his disguise.

"Brock. Cease this stupid behavior this instance, and give the boy the badge he deserves," the middle-aged man said.

Brock turned to the man, and immediately recoiled in shock. "YOU! You miserable old bat. I can't believe you would show up here of all places. First you leave and force me to give up my dreams to raise _your _kids, and then you come back just to side with my enemy? You've made my life miserable."

As Ash watched the soap opera in front of him, his only regret was that he didn't have popcorn.

"I've made your life miserable? Need I remind you that it was you who turned my own children against me, feeding them lies about how I murdered your mother. It was you who threw me out of my own gym, stealing my Pokemon and forcing them to obey you. And when they didn't, trading them away for those worthless rocks. You really haven't changed Brock, not in the slightest." the older man admonished.

Ash could have stayed for the rest of the show, but he had places to be and things to do, and the two taking up the stage were boring him. Try as he might, he honestly couldn't bring himself to care about the familial problems the two were having, although both their arguments seemed a bit preposterous, and it was likely that neither was right. Ash had gotten very good at remaining unseen while walking over the years, and he could simply walk over and take a badge from where a pile of them were lying. While the money would have been nice, Ash had enough for now from trainer battles, and didn't exactly need it.

As Ash was making his way out of the gym, he was stopped by an old man and a confections seller with a small baby in a stroller, or at least that's what they were trying to be. Ash saw through their disguise easily, and knew exactly who they were. They were the members of Team Rocket who he saw in Viridian.

"Hello esteemed colleagues," Ash said, guiding the trio outside, away from prying ears.

"Colleagues? Why did he call us colleagues?" Ash heard the Meowth talk from inside the stroller.

"Yeah, this is the guy right?" Jessie said. "The guy we've been looking for. Is it possible that he's already -"

"Shut up," Ash interrupted. "There are too many people here. Let's go somewhere private.

The three humans, and one poorly disguised Pokemon, made their way to a small alley between two buildings.

"Greetings fellow Team Rocket members. I have news that you probably wish to hear. The boss has not been very impressed with your lack of results," Ash intoned. "But fortunately, he is willing to give you a second chance."

"Say no more," James said. "What do we have to do."

"Your task is something that only those of your caliber can accomplish. The boss wants you to head back to Viridian forest. There is a tree in the forest, which houses the ancient legendary Pokemon Celebi. Your task is to go through every tree, until you find the legendary Pokemon," Ash said, with a poker face.

"You got it! We won't let the boss down." the trio synchronously said. It would take them a while to realize they'd been had, probably days later, as they realized there was no legendary Pokemon in the forest.

Or at least, that was as far as Ash knew. Perhaps there did exist legendary Pokemon in the Viridian Forest, that only revealed themselves to the three Team Rocket members. Maybe the Pokemon would let the trio capture it. Who knows?

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It had been a good stay at Pewter, Ash mused as he made his way to Mt. Moon, out of Pewter. His Pokemon had gotten significantly stronger through constant practice, plus he got to take down and humiliate the Pewter Gym Leader. All in all, he was becoming one of the strongest new trainers.

As he was just about to take a fork in the road that lead to Mt. Moon, a large group of Officer Jenny's rushed past him, one yelling into her walkie-talkie, "THE MUSEUM. THEY'RE AT THE MUSEUM."

Ash didn't really have anywhere to be in Cerulean, so he figured he might as well stop by the museum to see what was going on. After all, if Team Rocket was up to something, it had to be important.

Ash followed at a slower pace. Having been in Pewter for a full week, Ash already knew the general layout of the city, so he didn't need the Jenny's to tell him where to go. He finally made it to the museum just as the Jenny's were walking in.

The museum was an old, decrepit building which seemed to embody the spirit of Pewter Town. It was made of pure stone, and it seemed like one good Pokemon battle in the museum could tear the entire place apart.

Ash noticed a group of Pokemon trainers, all rather young like him, arguing about how if they were allowed in, Team Rocket would be destroyed. One young boy even had the gall to say that Team Rocket was weak. As if! Team Rocket was the strongest criminal organization in the world, and it would do well to have some respect for that undeniable fact.

From the sounds inside the museum, it seemed like Team Rocket agreed with Ash. The Jenny's just stood no chance against the powerful Team Rocket members, each of whom could probably take down 3 Jenny's single-handedly. And that wasn't even counting the Admins and Executives. It was obvious that the police force needed help, and quickly too.

GYAOO! A roar pierced through the idle chatter of Pokemon trainers, and most watched in awe as Lance swooped in on his Dragonite, landing easily on the ground in front of the museum. He quickly surveyed the scene, and his eyes widened as he noticed Ash.

"You, come with me," he gruffly ordered. Ash was surprised; perhaps he suspected that Ash had some affiliation to Team Rocket. The crowd, however, was less surprised as they recognized Ash from his battle with Brock.

"Ash is the best," one trainer said.

"Yeah go Ash," another followed.

"Destroy the Rockets," the crowd cheered on.

Ash made his way up the stairs and turned to face Lance. The man was imposing, with scars running along his face and incredibly piercing eyes, seemingly searching through Ash's own visage.

"You are going to come with me, and we will destroy those Rockets!" Lance yelled. Ash knew he was only doing it for his public image; it would certainly help to have a large group of young trainers respect and admire you.

Immediately the crowd rushed into cheers as Ash made his way inside with Lance. Lance turned to Ash and said "I know you're not what you seem Ketchum. There are a lot of rumors thrown around, that you're one of the Rockets, but I can't decide whose side you're on. Maybe that's because you haven't chosen a side. But know this, if you are a Rocket, or you join the Rockets, I will personally track you down, and deliver justice to you myself."

Ash gulped. This man looked very frightening, and this certainly dissuaded him from ever joining Team Rocket. "Understood, Lance. Do you still want me to fight?"

"Yes, the reason I called you here is to secure the Old Amber. The Old Amber is necessary to resuscitate one of the most powerful and ancient Pokemon, and it cannot fall in the wrong hands. I have noticed your ability to walk through undetected; don't think I didn't place you at the encounter with Archer. Your job is to walk through the back room and swipe the Old Amber; it is probably in the hands of Rocket right now." Lance ordered.

"Disperse," he yelled.

Ash rushed through the museum, just as Lance released Dragonite who roared, gathering the attention of everybody present. Rocket or Officer likewise stopped their battles to notice the potent Dragonite roar. As Lance launched into a speech of how Team Rocket would rue the day, obviously attempting to garner attention, Ash noted the devastation all around him. Pillars had fallen, exhibits smashed through, and all in all, the museum seemed unfixable after this. Ash didn't know whether to thank Team Rocket for tearing down such an ugly building, or condemn them for ruining the piece of history. But he didn't have time to think about that. He had an amber to save.

He quickly snuck into the back room, and was greeted with an argument between Brock and a member of Team Rocket.

"YOU! YOU FILTHY ROCKET!" Brock yelled as soon as he saw Ash. "You're probably helping this poor excuse for a human being to steal the amber aren't you."

Ash didn't bother responding; rather, he sent out both of his Pokemon and told them to knock out the two trainers in front of him. Both the Rocket and Brock fell in front of him. It would be pretty funny if Brock were proven to be a member of Team Rocket, after publicly calling him out for being a Rocket.

So without any hesitation, Ash took the Rocket mask off of the Team Rocket member, and placed it firmly on Brock's head.

Finally, Ash took the amber, just as he heard Archer yell "Rockets out!" Lance obviously proved to be too much for the Rockets to handle, and they must have assumed that the amber was secure already. The Rocket in front of Ash vanished, leaving Ash, Brock, and the amber that Ash was safely holding in the room.

Lance rushed into the room, and surveyed the scene, shocked that one of his own gym leaders would betray him to join Team Rocket. Ash handed the amber to Lance, and walked away, not willing to deal with the aftermath of the events.


End file.
